Creating SSiiQ
Nurturing HO1\IES
Mentoring helps children by helping parents
See Metro, Section B
‘City of Rose>
www.nortlandobserve
www.portlandobserver.com
FU
ahlkhed in 1970
Established
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXIV • Number 27
Wednesday • July 14, 2004
TT | P %/ Welcoming brigade
J * > ■
1 introduces new residents
PI V
Police
Reform
Battle
Commissioner
offers new resolution
BY J a YMEE R. C lT l
T he P ortland O bserver
The Say Hey group gathers at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center in north Portland to enjoy conversation with new and rooted professionals o f color in
Portland. S ee additional photo, page AS
Moving to a new city is a daunting task
for anyone having to make new friends,
business connections and finding their
niche.
Say Hey, a quarterly networking event
for com munities o f color helps to intro­
duce Portland as a culturally diverse and
welcoming place to be.
"W hen people first moved here, the
perception is ‘gee. are there many African
Americans in Portland?' But they end up
very pleased that Oregon is a warm and
friendly place to be," said Vicki Nakashima,
a Say Hey planning com mittee member.
Say Hey mixers, which are at the Inter­
state Firehouse Cultural Center in north
Portland, are also business networking
opportunities, where companies support­
ing diversity are showcased.
One of the most valuable resources
from a Say Hey gathering is a large wel­
come packet, swelling with information
about businesses, services, organizations
and even fun tips about must-see locales.
favorite barbers and popular restaurants.
The Say Hey welcoming brigade in­
vites professional, those new to the city
and anyone interested in identifying and
connecting with like-minded people to
regular gatherings at the IFCC. For more
inform ation, visit w w w .ifcc-arts.org/
contact.html.
Cross Country Ride Supports Habitat for Humanity
M ulticultural bike group to meet finishers
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
It all started when two college
students decided at 2 a.m. one
morning that it would be fun to
bicycle across the country, and do
it for a good cause.
Ten years later, 90 college stu­
dents will repeat what has become
the annual Habitat Bicycle Chal­
lenge, a cross-country ride as a
fundraiser for Habitat for H um an­
ity, the non-profit group that helps
low-income people build homes
with their contribution o f sweat
equity.
Th i s y ear, for t he fi rst t i me, Port -
land will be the final destination for
a third of the riders. The finish will
be celebrated with a public event
at 4 p.m. July 3 1 at Jamison Square
in the Pearl District of northwest
Portland.
A n th o n y B ry d o n an d Jim
Goodarzi were attending school at
Yale when they selected six other
people to go with them on the origi­
nal trip - out o f 60 who volunteered.
O ne o f th e se w as F ra n c e sc a
Gambetti. a Portland architect and
Goodarzi ’ s fiancée.
The first cross-country journey
was far more of an adventure than
those that followed. Gambetti re­
calls.
“Jim and Anthony were the only
ones with any real biking experi­
ence,” Gambetti says.
The group co vered 70 mi les a day
overa roundabout. 4,(XX)-mile route.
It was not a smooth ride. Just before
they were to begin, Goodarzi broke
continued
on page A6
Northeast Flooded
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..............
M ark W asihngton /T he P ortland O bserver
Members o f the group Bikes and Ideas Kids' Empowerment join BIKE founder John
Benenate (right) in preparations for a special ride later this month for Habitat for Humanity.
T1Weekin
The Review
z--*
photo by
Tw o weeks after African-American
leaders in the faith com munity came
before City Council with a resolution to
address racial profiling and other prob­
lems with the Portland Police Bureau,
one com missioner has presented his
own proposal.
Jim Francesconi, w ho is in a runoff
election to becom e P ortland’s next
mayor, says his resolution was drafted
in response to the action by the Albina
Ministerial Alliance, an African-Ameri­
can organization of church leaders.
“We need to re-build trust between
police officers and the community and
provide better training for officers so
that dangerous situations are de-esca­
lated,” Francesconi said. "This guides
the Police Bureau in improving diver­
sity, training and labor management.
Until the police ranks reflect the diver­
sity in our community and until officers
receive better training, problems will
continue to fester.”
Rev. LeRoy Haynes, a member of the
alliance and member o f a com mittee
stu d y in g p o lic e issu es, sa id th a t
Franceconi’s resolution doesn’t have
the teeth o f his group’s original pro­
posal.
“We appreciate the initiative on his
part but his resolution does not go as far
as our original presentation to address
the issues to end the shooting o f un­
armed citizens by members o f the Port­
land Police D epartm ent," Haynes said.
Still, Francesconi and alliance m em­
bers met on Friday to make conces­
sions.
“1 am hopeful that they will support
the new resolution,” Francesconi said.
The Albina M inisterial Alliance has
long been involved with police reform,
especially in the wake o f the police shoot­
ing deaths o f unarmed A frican-Ameri­
can motorists Kendra James and James
Jahar Perez.
The alliances' resolution calls for the
removal and severe discipline of Officer
Jason Sery, who shot and killed Perez on
March 28 in the St. Johns com munity of
north Portland.
The resolution also stipulates that
Portland's police officers should receive
com munity-approved cultural diversity
training and that officer training in the
police academ y,com bining field, class­
room and consultation training, will meet
or exceed national standards. Finally, it
addresses racial profiling, stating that
no police action should be made on the
j
A foot or more of rain fell in parts of
the Northeast, forcing hundreds of
people from their homes during (tie
night, rupturing small dams and
flooding roads. No injuries had been
reported in the stricken areas of
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Maryland.
Red Cross Fears More
Violations
The international Red Cross said
Tuesday that it fears U.S. officials
are holding terror suspects secretly
in locations across the world. The
Geneva Conventions on the con­
duct of warfare require the United
Slates to give the Red Cross access
to prisoners of
war and other
detainees.
Former
Enron CEO
Charged
Former Enron
CEO Ken Lay
su rren d ered to federal agents
Thursday after the governm ent
unsealed an II-count indictment
charging him in a wide-ranging
scheme to deceive the public, com ­
pany shareholders and government
regulators.
Bin Laden Associate
Surrenders
A senior associate o f Usama bin
Laden has surrendered to Saudi
Arabian authorities. Jalid al-Harbi
turned himself in to the Saudi em ­
bassy in Tehran. Iran in response
to the amnesty offered last month
by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah
New Oregon Pot
Law Considered
An O regon ballot m easure ex ­
pected to q u alify this week w ould
make it legal for medical marijuana
users to possess one pound o f
pot. create state dispensaries and
allow n u rse p ra c titio n e rs and
naturopaths to prescribe it. B ack ­
ers o f the initiative say the c u r­
rent law isn 't w orking form ally of
the 9.000 cardholders because
th e y 're running out o f cannabis
before they can line up a new
supply.
WHO Cites Failure in AIDS
Fight
The World Health O rganization
said Tuesday the world has "failed
m iserably" in getting lifesaving
drugs to millions afflicted with HIV,
and France accused the United
States of bullying poor countries
continued
on page A 6
into ceding rights to make afford­
able generic medicine.
Documentary Exposes Bias
on Fox News
A new dix'uinentary backed by lib­
eral political groups aims to docu­
ment that the Fox News Channel is
anything but "fair and balanced."
despite the cable-news netw ork's
motto.
Networks Cover Conventions
Online
ABC and CBS said M onday they
would offer gavel-to-gavel cover­
age of the DemtKratic and Repub­
lican eonve' ' ' ” ns this year over
the Internet
is periods of
prim e-tim e c o . ,
over their .,t
broadcast networks.